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PAUL ROBESON'S STUDENT DAYS AND THE FIGHT AGAINST RACISM AT RUTGERS 

GEORGE FISHMAN 
"Thanks a million for your beautiful songs, all your heroic deeds, all your historic breakthroughs. Happy birthday, Paul."
-LLOYD BROWN TO PAUL ROBESON, 1969. [[^]]1

ON THE OCCASION of Paul Robeson's 71st birthday, one can get deeper insight into the greatness of his contributions through historical perspective. Such historical perspective refutes those who pretend Paul Robeson never existed or else depreciate his role. 
The irreversibility of Paul Robeson's contributions to his people, to workers, to the nation, and to the world was registered April 2, 1969 when Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, officially inaugurated the Paul Robeson Music and Arts Lounge in the new student center. 
Speaking to the gathering via tape, Paul Robeson Jr. Summed up the moment as follows: 
"It is fitting that a corner of the curtain lowered on Paul Robeson in his own country is being lifted here at Rutgers....When my father sang the songs of the people of the earth, he was part of them and part of his own Negro people. The record can be hidden, but not erased. Those guilty of the crime of conspiracy of silence now try to belittle his role. He stood tall and strong." 
Paul Robeson's achievements and contributions are many. This article limits itself to his student years. It focuses on racism, the struggle against it, and great achievements in the teeth of it. This article pin-points a protest against an instance of jim crow treatment of Paul Robeson, a protest made forthrightly by James Carr, first Negro graduate of Rutgers (1892). The text of the protest is published herein (see Decument I). 

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I want to thank Edie Bartman Fishman for valuable research and technical help for this article - George Fishman. 

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George Fishman teaches in the Social Studies. He has written articles on the Afro-American freedom struggle in the history of New Jersey for other publications.